Kate's Name Art

I love painting names for babies' nurseries. I made them for my niece, nephew, and coworker's son. When it came time to make one for my own child I was stumped. I couldn't make it before Kate was born because we didn't know that she would be a she (and in all honesty- had I made it while I was pregnant I would have made "Alec". Yup we thought she was a boy.)
So after seeing something pretty simple on pinterest, I painted 4 canvases in yellow and green stripes. It would serve as the backdrop for either Alec or Kate. They turned out pretty well too; I was very happy with them.

Then Kate was born and I finally added her name to the canvases. The letters were white and didn't stand out that much, so I went for a deep pink/red. Kate loves the high contrast and will stare at the letters, but I wasn't happy. They didn't look like I wanted. I am a perfectionist in a lot of ways, and her name just looked sloppy.

So the weekend she was turning 3 months I finally figured out how I was going to fix it. I was reading her the book "Eric Carle's ABC" and thought how cute it would be to have the letters and picture of the animal to spell out Kate's name. So I scanned the pages (if I had another copy I would just cut the letters out of the book) and Adam cropped them and printed them on cardstock.

But when I started to mod podge the letter to the canvas board the ink started to smear.

I also realized the white background on the white canvas wasn't doing it for me. So I sprayed the letters with a clear coat sealer, and painted the canvas boards in the colors of the letters- Eric Carle style.

 So after Finally finishing this should-have-been-quick project Kate has a cute and animal/artsy name piece.

 I hope she likes looking at these letters and animals as much as she liked the high contrast pink on yellow.

Father's Day

I didn't know what I would be getting Adam for his first father's day. For mother's day I got flowers and a pint of ice cream (a few days early- the flowers died before mother's day and there was something wrong with the ice cream- like it melted then re-froze before I even peeled off the plastic liner under the lid). So I knew Adam wasn't going to expect anything really big or expensive. I was going to make a shutterfly book since i had a free promo code- but I don't have enough pictures to make it worth it- maybe next year)
I finally decided on something that had been floating around pinterest for a while.

A Salt-Dough keepsake of Kate's foot.

*not Kate's foot*

I had heard of salt dough ornaments before, but never tried to make any. The recipe is from here, though I needed to add more water.

I wanted to make an impression of her hand, but being 2 months old Kate's hand is basically in a permanent fist. So I went with her foot. Which was much harder to do than I thought. Push too hard- squished blobby toes that look like she is swollen (or has hobbit feet). Push lightly- no clear impression.
When I finally got it right, I put it into the toaster oven. I found out my toaster oven will only cook for 2hrs at a time, so I needed to go back and add another hour to the baking time.

 I painted the inside and added her name and the year. Adam declared it 'cute' and can take it into work.

We spent the day at my parents' and Kate did pretty well with her naps. My only request was to have a picture taken of us all together.

 Happy Father's Day!

2 Months

Really? Another month has gone by?

My big girl is now12 lbs 3 oz and 23 1/4 " long.

Highlight of the month: more cooing and babbling. It's so cute to watch her 'talk' to me, my family, and her toys. She's also almost rolling over. She's gotten as far as one arm and both legs over, but her other arm got stuck. Adam gives her 2-3 more weeks before she is fully rolling over.

We've also just started a sort of sleep training. I couldn't take her 20 minute naps and wanting to eat every 2 hrs. So I've been watching for her sleepy cues- which are usually about an hour-1.5 hours after she wakes up. I guess I didn't realize how much babies sleep. So far we have been able to get her to nap for an hour (on average) and she's eating every 2-3 hours.  She's not sleeping through the night consistently yet, but she has stretched out her nighttime feedings (and dropped one) so I only have to get up once in the middle of the night/early morning.

I can't believe that if I had her at a different point in the school year I would already be back to work. She's still so little, how would I leave her all day? I'm really lucky that she came at the perfect time of  the year.


Oh baby girl, you're getting so big.

Snugli Kate

Sometimes I just want to be able to clean the kitchen or swiffer the floor but Kate doesn't want to be put down. This is where baby wearing comes in. I got the Moby wrap after it was recommended by almost everyone. The problem, though, is that Kate doesn't really like it. When She's awake she wants to look around. That means she moves her head from the 'correct' spot and puts it right in the center of my chest.

Because the Moby is made of a stretchy jersey type fabric I didn't feel safe wearing her that way. And when I tried another position Kate stretched her legs out, not staying in the fetal position, making carrying her that way even worse.

Then I remembered my sister gave me her Snugli carrier. A little harder to get Kate in and out of, but she was able to look around and I didn't feel like she was going to fall out. I even was able to carry her grocery shopping (a quick 15 minute trip in Trader Joe's) and she did so well.

I know there's been some controversy over this type of carrier (like the Baby Bjorn) for causing hip problems. I've looked into it and have found conflicting information. Some sources say the carries will cause hip dysplasia, others say it's perfectly fine and won't harm baby's hips, and still more say wearing it for short periods of time are fine, but longer than 20 minutes can harm baby. So I will just stick to wearing her this way around the house or for quick errands by myself (If I'm with someone else I keep her in the stroller).


I guess I could opt to buy a 'better' carrier (like the Ergo) that hold the baby in a sitting position, but at over $100 I'm not so sure. Who knows, maybe Kate will like the Moby when she's a little bigger?

My First Mother's Day

And I have no pictures.

I really wanted to get some pictures of me and Kate/ Kate and other family members but I spent most of the day in my sister's bedroom trying to feed/comfort Kate and get her to sleep.

After spending a few days at the beach with my mom we went to my sister's house for Mother's Day. Kate was definitely off her 'schedule', passed around to the family member who haven't seen her, and definitely overly tired. I tried feeding her and did all the 'tricks' that work at home to put her to sleep. It didn't work. I think there were just too many people and too much noise/stimulation for her. She did finally fall asleep in her carseat, as she was rocked by Adam with Rockabye Baby playing on his phone.

But in the end Kate gave me a wonderful Mother's day gift- She slept for 6 hours straight last night. 9:30-3:30. I slept when she did, meaning I missed 'My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding' but it was so worth it.

 Thank you, baby Kate.
I love being your mom, even when you keep me holed up in a room for hours and change my sleep time from 11, I wouldn't change a thing.

One Month

Seriously, where did the past month go? I feel like I just brought her home a few days ago.

Highlight of the month (aside from actually having her): She smiled at me. I swear it wasn't gas. I put her in the swing, she looked at me, I said "Hi, pretty girl" and she smiled at me and cooed. And she did it again! It's amazing how in just a month she went from hardly opening her eyes to finally making eye contact and finally reciprocating a smile. She is finally communicating in a way other than crying or sucking on her fist (when she's hungry).

Stats: Kate was 8lbs 2oz and 21" at birth. Now she is a whopping 10lbs.

I'm going to take her growing pictures in the glider with the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I also want to go the YHL route and take monthly pics on fun fabric. Hopefully after a year I will be able to turn the different fabric into a blanket for her.

I know I'm biased because I'm her mother, but Kate is one seriously cute baby. I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Grover and Kate

I was nervous about how Grover would react to a new baby in the house. A couple weeks before she was born he decided to start pooping and peeing on the carpet and in his play tunnel in the basement. We didn't know if something freaked him out in the laundry room (where is litter box is) or if he could tell something was about to change. Thankfully after moving his litter out of the laundry room he hasn't had anymore incidences.

But we still wondered how this cat, who thinks he owns the house, would handle another small creature.

He thinks he owns the house, and obviously the play space was to be his too

After delivering Kate, Adam took her hat home to let Grover sniff it and get used to the smell. Then when we brought her home, we left her in the carseat in the middle of the room and let Grover come up to her and sniff her.

For the first couple days he wanted nothing to do with her. He didn't act meanly or anything, he just avoided her. He spent most of the time sleeping on our bed, and I tried to keep Kate out of our bedroom so he wouldn't feel intimidated.

Within a couple more days Grover has 'loosened up' a bit. If I have Kate in bed, he has no problem sleeping at my feet or walking by her to look out the window.

I'm so happy he hasn't freaked out and think the slow transition and introduction helped him adjust well.

How did you introduce your pets to a new baby (or a new pet)?